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I am a novice, using Ubuntu 14,04. I have tried to install Skype, and it does not work. I need it installed, but I read all the suggestions, and they all refer to using some sudo commands in what I believe is a DOS-like command prompt menu - and I cannot find anywhere to access that?

I am sure this is a trivial question thousands have asked before, so a simple direction to where this is explained would suffice for me as help.

I also realize that I need to know what "distribution" my Ubuntu is, and if is 32 or 64 bit - where do I find that information?

Thank you in advance.

David
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Mogens Eliasen
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  • May be we can just help you with Skype. Can you edit the question, and explain what's wrong with it, and how you've tried installing it. – mikewhatever Sep 25 '15 at 22:32
  • The only option I appear to have is to use the download from skype.com, as there is no recognition by the Software Center of Skype. So, I did that. I actually downloaded several versions, as I did not know which version/distribution I am having. – Mogens Eliasen Sep 25 '15 at 23:18
  • I think I got the problem solved. Thank you for your interest in helping me! It did the trick to use the command-prompt instructions, and I got help to get that started. – Mogens Eliasen Sep 25 '15 at 23:34
  • This question is semi-related http://askubuntu.com/q/636691/295286 – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Oct 01 '15 at 19:42

1 Answers1

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To open the DOS-like terminal, press Ctrl+Alt+T all together on your keyboard to open the terminal.

From the terminal prompt to find out what your distribution is, type in the following:

cat /etc/*release

it will produce text looking like this:

terrance@terrance-ubuntu:~$ cat /etc/*release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=14.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=trusty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="14.04.3 LTS, Trusty Tahr"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS"
VERSION_ID="14.04"
HOME_URL="http://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"

To find out if it is 32bit or 64bit, type in:

getconf LONG_BIT

Example:

terrance@terrance-ubuntu:~$ getconf LONG_BIT
64

Then to install Skype, type in the following:

sudo apt-get install skype

When sudo is used in front of the command, it is running at an elevated permission level, so it will ask for your password to continue to install the application.

To add a Desktop icon of skype, type in the following to copy one to your desktop, then make it executable.

cp /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop ~/Desktop/
chmod +x ~/Desktop/skype.desktop

Hope this helps!

Terrance
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  • Very impressive! It was exactly what I needed. It helped a lot. But I face one small complication from it: although the machine confirmed the installation of Skype, I can't find it anywhere in the program overview, and I cannot find out how to open that program. Again, I am sure there is a simply answer... – Mogens Eliasen Sep 25 '15 at 22:59
  • @MogensEliasen What complication are you still facing? – Terrance Sep 25 '15 at 23:00
  • I cannot find out how to open that program. There is no link to it, and it appears to be not recognized by the Software Center... – Mogens Eliasen Sep 25 '15 at 23:12
  • @MogensEliasen You can press the Windows Key (Super Key) on your keyboard, and type in Skype, and you should see an icon for it. Or you can type in skype & at the Terminal prompt and it should launch it too. Normally apps like that end up in the Internet group of applications. – Terrance Sep 25 '15 at 23:16
  • OK - that appeared to work well. Thank you! Do I need to do this every time, or can I create a shortcut to my desktop? – Mogens Eliasen Sep 25 '15 at 23:26
  • @MogensEliasen I edited my answer to help you copy the skype launcher to the desktop, then make it so you can launch it from there. – Terrance Sep 25 '15 at 23:33
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    @MogensEliasen Also, if I was able to help you, make sure you click the check-mark next to my answer. – Terrance Sep 25 '15 at 23:37